Not Linking is Not Blogging

Robert Anderson commented on my near-rant yesterday about bloggers that do not link.

Robert said:

Steve Gillmor and now Seth are pushing the "link is dead" concept.

They do have a point, but I'm building readership. Linking still seems the most effective way to insert yourself into the conversation.

I think that linking is the evolutionary step between mere columnists and their more evolved cousins, bloggers. 

I do, however, recognize that sometimes bloggers feel that it is no longer  necessary to provide links to source information so that their readers can get context, further information, or view those that came up with the original idea credit.

I invite bloggers to recognize the distinction between bloggers and columnists and use the nofollow tag. This allows you, as a good and conscientious blogger to still link to source material, but, at least in their Google ranking, share with them the same degree of love they shared with you.  Well, you still give them a little more by benefit of the link.

Again, blogs are not op-ed pieces with a Winer interface.  They are a cooperative system that fosters conversation.

Links aren't just about traffic or attention either.  By not linking to me, a linkless site also gets no attention from me.  I never know that they have even discussed me or a topic I'm involved in because they don't show up in Technorati or other link-tracking tools.

The notion that links are merely to build readership is rather frightening to me.  It says to me that conversation is important until you reach a point where you can pontificate.  That blogging is a culture to grow TechnoPriests.  What a drag that would be.

I'd also like to mention that this seems to be isolated to a few people in the tech blogging sector.

Part of what I've enjoyed about moving from the world of urban planning and politics to the world of technology is the openness of people to discuss things.  This community thrives on ideas.  Intellect is the only valuable asset here.  Tech bloggers who do not link are sending the message to their readers and to their sources that they are now above that.  That they've lost the curiosity that makes tech exciting in the first place.

If you go to other aspects of blogging - mommy bloggers, food bloggers, knitting bloggers - there are blogs out there that are massively popular that link habitually if not religiously.  There is an inherent value of community and respect for the individual.  It's part of the culture.

Let us not lose sight of the need for the conversation in technology.  The moment we lose it, we'll be the new auto industry.  Massive, closed. cold and unspeakably dull.   

Technorati Tags: nofollow, winer, technorati, community_indicators, linklove, attention, attention trust

Comments

[dustin]

I like to think of linking as the currency of the web that demonstrates to your readers where you place value within your online community. However, this currency only has value if you spend it!

[Jay Fienberg]

If you assume that nofollow doesn't do anything, and then look for evidence that it does anything like it's reported to, I think you'll find that there's no public demonstration of nofollow's effect. For this reason, I don't think nofollow solves anything for web page creators--and nofollow has the generally negative quality of acting like a solution when it's not.

But, putting that aside, with the rise of Page Rank-like methods, Technorati, etc., there has been a greater divide between blogs that are fundamentally broadcast media and blogs that are more like public correspondence. And, the broadcast bloggers are linked-to so disproportiantely more than they link out, that I don't know if it's much different when they choose to not to link out at all.

Ironically, it's some of these broadcast bloggers who rallied for nofollow--because, like the traditional broadcast media, they're desperate to hold onto their "authority" and do not want to see it transfered to other bloggers.

(So, in this sense, the authority is bestowed by the search engines in the form of a Rank. Broadcast bloggers make a big deal about how great said search engines are. Then, bloggers complain about search engines allowing Rank-leakage. Then, nofollow is created by search engines to supposedly stop the leakage. But, it's all just a game between the bestower of Rank and those obsessed with Rank. And, none of it is inherent to the web itself.)

I don't think there's a technical way (e.g. nofollow) to deflate the big head of broadcast bloggers. I think it's best to openly ignore them or make fun of their big heads.

In some sense, broadcast bloggers linking-out is just a way they attract more links in (e.g., they are trying to encourage people to feel "if I link to Mr. BigHead Blogger a lot, he'll eventually link back to me").

That said, at least when the big heads link out, they set a good example for everyone (e.g., if BigHead links, I have no excuse not to). The "links are dead" idea just generally sets a bad precedent all around.